Moon: lunar soil

Discrete particles of lunar soil shown in a magnified view, part of the samples of Moon material returned by Apollo astronauts. The tiny fragments are the products of the pulverization of rocks by billions of years of meteorite and comet impacts, and they have been modified by heat, radiation, and bombardment by atomic and subatomic particles at the lunar surface. Major rock types represented include basalt, anorthosite, and breccia. Also present are shiny spherules of glass that formed in the impacts and solidified as individual droplets. A portion of a millimetre scale is visible in the lower left corner.